Darker Than Black, Lighter Than Snow
by EmylynnFae
Summary: Steven Stone, age twelve, travels to the Johto region from Hoenn Snow, also age twelve. Snow is a quiet girl who finds herself practically incapable of trusting humans. Can Steven change this? Steven Stone x OC Snow .


**Here we are, my first fanfiction. I do not own pokemon, I own copies of the games but not pokemon. Please read and review. I want to know whether to carry on or not.**

**Summary: Steven Stone, age twelve travels to the Johto region from Hoenn with Snow, also age twelve. Snow is a quiet girl who finds herself almost incapable of trusting humans. Will Steven be able to change this? Steven Stone x OC (Snow).**

**Chapter One**

"Steven, I hear from your father that you wish to travel to the Johto region to train." Professor Birch looked up from his paper work to look at the boy in question.

Steven Stone was the son of the boss of the Devon corporation. The boy was rather tall for his age, being twelve at that moment in time. He had chin length blue hair and blue eyes. The boy's pokémon, an Aron, sat at his feet. Steven wore a navy blue shirt that was buttoned up, it had long sleeved which he had rolled up to his elbows. He also wore black trousers and shoes and a grey rucksack was on his back.

"Yeah, I do Professor. I want to see if I can find some rare stones while I'm there as well." He smiled a little.

The professor nodded and was about to say something else but he was interrupted when a loud crash came from the room next door. He muttered a quick apology before hurriedly going into the room next door.

It was chaos. Paper work and other things lay scattered about the room, the work of a pokémon. The pokémon in question was a Poochyena who went by the name Nightfang. The dog-like pokémon was currently being chased by a girl the same age as Steven.

The girl was small, being several inches shorter than the blue-haired boy. She had chin length white hair and red eyes with very pale skin that made the girl seem almost sickly. Her clothes were completely black, consisting of a tank top and shorts. She didn't wear anything on her feet which was rather strange. Because her arms and legs were uncovered, Steven could see several marks which seemed to be scars.

She was quick on her feet, and caught Nightfang after a few more moments. The pokémon and human then proceeded to have a wrestle on the floor which the Poochyena won. He sat on top of the girl triumphantly as the girl looked up, noticing the professor and a boy peering around him.

"Uh... Sorry about that... Nightfang wouldn't calm down..." The girl flinched several times as she spoke, not looking at either of the males who were watching her. She seemed to be scared of them.

Professor Birch sighed a little. "Don't worry about it, Snow. Just clean up in here please, you'll be going to Johto with Steven here."

Snow's eyes widened in fear as she looked at the boy.

"Professor? You didn't say that I had to travel with someone." Steven said, a little confused as to why he had to travel with a girl who couldn't seem to control her pokémon.

"I was about to, before the chaos in here was caused." He gestured to the room which was being hurriedly tidied. "She needs to travel with someone, she's scared of people and so it would be bad if she had to travel on her own. Who knows, you may be able to get her to open up some more." The professor smiled. "Snow likes dark type pokémon, just as you like steel types." He stopped talking as he felt something tug at his sleeve.

"Professor, should I go and pack now?" Snow asked. Her eyes were still wide and she flinched as the professor ruffled her hair.

"Go ahead, Steven will take you to the port then. When you get to New Bark Town, go and see Professor Elm, he knows I sent you. He'll set you up with a pokédex and anything else you might need."

Snow nodded before skipping out of the room, Nightfang on her heels. Steven looked at the professor. "I'll travel with her, no promises about getting her out of her shell though; she seems petrified of human contact."

"She is. But it's up to her to tell you why."

An hour or so later and Steven, along with Snow and Nightfang were on a boot heading for New Bark Town. The professor had handed them each a pokégear with his number and each other's programmed into it so that they could keep contact with one another.

Snow seemed content to stare at the sea and brush Nightfang's fur; the Poochyena had his eyes closed as he enjoyed the attention.

Steven, on the other hand, observed Snow more carefully. The girl had dark rings around her eyes which he hadn't noticed before, rather surprising considering how much they stood out against her pale skin. He wondered if she had trouble sleeping or if there was some other reason for them. He also noticed that she stiffened up a little whenever someone walked near her, her grip on Nightfang tightening for a moment before relaxing. It seemed that she used the Poochyena to keep herself calm which would explain why she kept him out of a pokéball.

After a few more minutes, Steven sat down next to the girl, noticing how she stiffened up. Snow forced herself to relax and her gaze flickered over to the blue-haired boy.

He knew that she wouldn't talk to him first so he decided to start the conversation. "Since we're going to be travelling together, we might as well try to get to know one another. The name's Steven Stone. I'm interested in collecting rocks and stones of various kinds and I like steel type pokémon."

A hint of a smile played at the girl's lips before vanishing. Her reply was so quiet that Steven had to strain his ears to hear her. "My name is Snow, I don't have a last name. I like being around pokémon, especially Nightfang, and I also like drawing. My favourite pokémon type is the dark type because they seem more mysterious than the rest..." She trailed off at the end going silent.

Steven smiled at her when Snow's gaze flickered over to him once more. She seemed like a nice girl, even if she was shy and quiet. He could tell that she cared deeply for her pokémon and wondered if she would enter the pokémon league or contests while they travelled through Johto.

Snow smiled back, although the expression was barely noticeable. For some reason she trusted the blue-haired boy, but she didn't have a clue why. She was starting to think that she might possibly enjoy travelling with him. He seemed to want to be friends with her which was an entirely new thing to her. Other than Professor Birch, no one seemed to be kind to her at all. They all teased her because of her hair and eye colour as well as her sickly looking skin.

At Steven's smile, the white-haired girl felt hope flutter inside of her. Perhaps there were more nice people out there. Perhaps she would make some new friends who didn't care about what she looked like. She knew that Nightfang didn't care, but she wanted human friends as well, not just pokémon.

The two children conversed a little for the rest of the journey and when the boat reached New Bark Town, the sun was setting on the horizon.

Steven yawned a little as they strolled into the small town, heading for the largest building which he assumed was Professor Elm's lab. Snow trailed behind him, although she wasn't as tense as she had been before, something to do with the fact that it was just about night time.

Once they reached the lab it was dark outside and the moon was starting to rise. Street lamps had turned on a couple of minutes previously and lit up the street in yellow light.

Steven knocked on the door and Snow stood behind him with Nightfang at her heels. The door opened to reveal Professor Elm who looked rather tired.

The Professor smiled. "Ah, you must be Steven. Where's Snow?" Snow, after realising that the professor couldn't see her, leaned to the side to look past Steven. She smiled slightly before Steven felt a hand close around some of the material of his shirt. Snow was shy again. "Ah, there you are. Come on in you two." Nightfang barked. "Three. Sorry, Poochyena."

The three followed Professor Elm inside. "You must be tired from travelling here. We'll talk in the morning. For now let me show you to your rooms." The professor showed them along a corridor until he stopped next to two identical doors. "Take your pick and I'll see you in the morning. Sleep well."

Professor Elm then left them, heading back down to corridor to what was presumably his room or his lab.

"Goodnight..." Snow smiled slightly at Steven before disappearing into the room on the right with Nightfang on her heels.

As the door closed behind her, Steven whispered goodnight as well before heading into what was now his room for the night. He was so tired that he didn't even bother to take off his clothes. He just fell onto the bed, falling asleep as his head hit the pillow.

Snow couldn't sleep. She hadn't slept since she was six and she wasn't planning to start now. She was too scared to after what had happened six years ago. Nightfang curled up at her feet as she sat on the bed, the Poochyena falling asleep to the sound of Snow's voice as she sung quietly.

Steven woke up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. That in itself was odd. Unless he was worried about something he usually slept like a log until dawn. The strange thing was, he didn't feel tired. He frowned a little; he could swear he heard someone singing. Someone who sounded like Snow.

The blue-haired boy got out of bed and opened his door. He then pressed his ear to the door to Snow's room, straining to listen.

Steven's eyes widened as he listened. Snow's voice was beautiful as she sang. He personally couldn't understand what she was singing for it was in a strange tongue, but the way she sang seemed so sad yet at peace. Her singing made him feel tired once more.

Muffling a yawn so that he didn't disturb Snow, he walked quietly back to his room to go back to sleep.


End file.
